2009-03-28

Peter And Paul Killed the Dragon And He Did It With His Bare Hands

I disagree with how vampires live but I like vampires. At least, I prefer them to werewolves. There are more explicit properties about them that I could find appealing, like immortality, romance, the night, their elegance, fair skin, Victorian associations, etc.

I'm not a huge fan of drinking blood, but the focus on blood as being fundamental to life is nice. Immortality is somewhat nice, but I generally see vampire immortality as a form of "easy" perverted Christian immortality. You should be a good Christian and receive immortality, but those who are greedy, exploitive, afraid seek something more certain and palpable, more Earthly powerful, something you know (Earthly "life") over the afterlife. A perversion in near-enough direct contradiction to the immortality you're supposed to seek. It leaves you addicted to blood, firmly bound and dependent upon the Earth for survival.

By opposing, by rejecting, the Christian immortality, it seems like you generally surrender it for all time. You're isolated into a world where anything Godly is anathema to even your health. Life-fueling sun, the Holy Cross, Real Life (you hide in a coffin during the day, where only your Earthly remains should have remained, not your mind), Holy Water, garlic (Jesus loved that stuff!), and even Truth (the mirror betrays you).

To compensate, vampires make the most out of what they do have. They exercise their power, they seduce, they refine and manicure themselves. They enjoy their lot. And they pull others into the darkness with them. Of course, not all vampires are like this, but the best are. Some become savage animals, mindlessly feeding. A different species to be sure. Sometimes a story will focus on one, the other, or a mixture (as in Buffy).

For those who see the bastardisation of vampirism and its perversion, their greatest salvation is by running full-tilt into the Hands of God. Often, it's not quite enough. He rarely intervenes directly. Perhaps he rescues your soul right then. Perhaps the soul is only damned if you willingly embrace the darkness. I'm not clear on this point.

Anyway, the aspect of vampires that attracts me is the degree of order. It is weaved into their refinement and elegance. Though immortal, they are not invulnerable, and must take care if they wish to survive. They need to be able to feed without drawing attention to themselves. They need rules and security, security from the day and those who would hunt them. They need order. Power helps them. Many vampires either ascend to a powerful place in the larger world or flock to one who has. Participating in a leveraged position among the humans helps them control their situation. Yes, they expose themselves to some suspicion, but less than were they totally removed yet known of. Wealth and power enables their necessarily eccentric lifestyles.

This degree of order is contrasted in the Underworld series of films against werewolves. Vampires can be feral, easily. They lust for blood as a werewolf does. Many times, a vampire is seen to transform a little when angered, hungry, or intimidated. They cease to inhibit their more feral tendencies and exhibit the extent of their ungodly power. However, like many humans, they spend a great deal of time denying their wilder nature and establish a lifestyle of control and responsibility. Werewolves on the other hand, when turned under the light of the full moon, are reckless walking slaughter houses. They feed on whatever they can, they scrap more madly than any natural beast known to man, endangering their own existence and those of the people around them. Vampires apply their intelligence to their survival, while werewolves apply their teeth. Werewolves are free of constraint, it would seem, a freedom dangerous to themselves as much as others. Savages.

But of course, who wants eternal damnation and the curse of the vampire, to never walk again in the light of the sun, to eat garlic, to love without death? So, three cheers to the vampire hunters, the vampire slayers, to those who dedicate their lives to researching and exterminating the vampire menace, to those who resist the seduction of a promise so sweet in short-sighted eyes. Here's to the Van Helsings, Buffys, and Glenn the frogs of the world!